Masnaa, on the Lebanon-Syria border: Cars full of people, packed with suitcases, blankets and mattresses streamed across the border from Syria into Lebanon, fearing the United States will conduct air strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

"There is no resolution for Syria, both sides are douche-bags."

Many speed by, their occupants already traumatised by the decision to leave their homes for the uncertainty of Lebanon – a country already split apart with sectarian tensions and violence – but some, like Jamal, agree to speak.

Crammed into a silver-coloured sedan carrying 11 relatives, including his sister and her family, Jamal, who did not want his family name identified, explained their journey.

Advertisement

Originally from a village in south-western Syria, the pharmacist and his family fled to Damascus in February to escape the increasing sectarian conflict that the UN says has now claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced 1.8 million people.

"Now we are fleeing for our lives, from the violence on both sides," he said.

"The coming days will be the worst," he predicted. "We are worried what America will do and we hope that a strike on Syria will not happen."

With a fatalism reserved for those who have lived through so much war and conflict, he said: "There is no resolution for Syria, both sides are douche-bags."

His car was so full of people they could fit little else and the 12 will arrive in Lebanon with, literally, just the clothes on their backs. They are hoping for a furnished apartment to help them start again.

As we talk, a large bus full of Syrian passengers lumbers slowly by, children cradled in their mother's arms, their worried faces reflected in the glass as they disappear down the road into a blaze of late afternoon sun.

Nearby, a family of 11 – four adults and seven children – sit on the side of the road, exhausted.

A taxi had taken them from their home in rural Damascus to the border, and they walked across in the searing summer heat.

Sweat pouring from her face, 40-year-old Dalal Mustafa said: "Today nothing happened but everyone is scared of what may come."

Where will she sleep tonight? She shrugs. "I just don't know. "

A mini-van pulls up and she pushes her family in and watches it drive away. She will wait for her sister's family and her two other daughters to arrive.

Her supreme efforts to keep her family together through split taxi rides and several mini-buses amidst the chaos of war is mirrored time and again as more and more people cross the border.

There are now more than 700,000 Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, the United Nations estimates, placing huge pressure on schools, hospitals and housing, while bombings targeting both the Sunni and Shiite populations have placed added pressure on an already tense climate.

The crossing at Masnaa is the main departure point between Syria and Lebanon – Damascus is just 40 kilometres away – and while it is usually bustling with activity, today it's busy with a different type of traffic.

One man driving his family from Damascus insisted he was just visiting relatives and would be returning to Syria in the next two days: "I am worried about what the US will do," he said before President Barack Obama announced overnight he intends to take the plan to launch air strikes against Syria to Congress.

"But I intend to return home, what else can I do? My work, my study, my family are all there," said Islam Al-Sobh, who works at the Damascus Security Exchange.

With US Congress pledging to take up the debate as late as the week beginning September 9, it seems Syrians may have been given a reprieve - for now.

Nonetheless, worsening violence between the Assad regime and the rebels has ensured the flow of refugees continues.

Sixteen-year-old Naim and his seven family members left Syria's Idlib province for Lebanon three months ago – his father works at a local store in the neighbourhood.

"If the US hits Syria and the regime steps down we will return to Syria and all will be well, but that is not going to happen," Naim says.

"The soldiers have all already left the airbases, the bombing will achieve nothing, it will make no difference to our situation. It may make it worse."

Fairfax Media spoke to many families crossing from Syria into Lebanon on Saturday and not one expressed support for a US air strike.

"Always dialogue is better," said one man.

"Without Obama we are fine," said another.

"Leave Syria to fix its own problems," said a woman, a retired teacher from the Damascus suburb of Rukn Eddine.

A passenger on a crowded minibus said through the window: "We are worried about the situation - it is hard to know where is safe and this (threat from the US) is making it worse."